dying fire lights the sky
by hariboo-smirks
Summary: It had only been a matter of time. For a mission to go wrong – they had been having too much good of luck as of late. Daniel and Vala and whump.


**A/N: **Written for the **dvexchange** on LJ for **xfirefly9x**.

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**dying fire lights the sky**

Vala knew torture. Inward as well as outward. She knew what it was like to feel trapped in a seemingly vast and hazy darkness, where you saw the world outside, but it was dark and sinful and full of death. She knew what it was like to feel hands, sticks, stone and whips striking across her back and break her skin. Vala knew torture, Vala knew it well, she held it in the cracks of her heart and had learned to compartmentalise it.

But this. Watching Daniel suffer along side of her was a new kind of torture she could not bare.

It had only been a matter of time. For a mission to go wrong – they had been having too much good of luck as of late – and for them to get captured by less than understanding jailers who knew just where to prod and poke and hurt. Worse of all, it had been a misunderstanding. Sam had corrected their hosts, tried to show them better ways of harnessing their weapons technology and they had not take it well. More accurately they had not taken the protest to help them create more of their deadly weapons, Vala remembers Cam calling them mini-WMD's, well. In return they had not taken the treats to Sam's life well either. But this had been supposed to be a peaceful meeting and their only option had been to try to make it to the gate in one piece.

One piece, Vala scoffed at the memory. There had been so much running and shooting and shouting. She remembered seeing the gate and Sam clutching the shoulder where it had been dislocated and Teal'c trying to cover them all. Vala then only remembers heat at her back and the feel of dirt on her face. She had woken up what felt like minutes later to find herself in shackles and Daniel holding her between his legs. For a second she had thought she was dreaming, but the pain in her leg was a clue to no. She then noticed the rank smells of her surroundings – dirt, faeces and blood – and scrambled away from Daniel just in time to throw up. She remembered batting his hand away as it moved towards her back, but listened as he spoke and she tried to spit out the taste of vomit in her mouth.

_They threw one of those bomb things at us. You fell and I tried to get you up… Sam was dialling... They threw another one and I saw Teal'c push Cam and Sam through the gate. _

_And us?_

_Would you believe I had thought we fell through the gate when the second one went off… _

And that had been it.

Except, they were now being used as hostages for weapons. And their captors apparently weren't new to hostage and slaves situations. But neither were Daniel and Vala, and for the first week they had even tried to escape. Unfortunately, their captors weren't new to prison escapes either. They knew just how to hit them and use them against each other. First it had been easy, a few slaps and kicks and she and Daniel fought back. It wasn't anything either wasn't used too and they knew that Cam and others would be looking to get them back.

Then they added weapons. It had been a while that Vala had felt the strike of metal and leather against her skin in a way she hadn't invited herself. Daniel had given one of the guards a bloody nose the second day she had been thrown into the cell and the cuts on her back were jagged and harsh. Hours later she only made sure that the gash on his shoulder didn't get infected as she held she head in her lap.

"Don't be stupid like that again."

Daniel didn't answer and winced as she dabbed her cut on his brow.

"I mean it Daniel, the more they see you worry, the more they see you care, the crueller they'll be."

"I've been beat up worse in my life." He moved to sit up and Vala cringed as she shifted against the wall. Daniel turned her and then used the remaining water of the day to clean her back.

The next time they kept her for longer and smiled at Daniel as they threw her limp and unconscious into his arms. He didn't do anything, but next time they took him he wouldn't scream at all and they kept him for longer.

That night she had asked, "Daniel, I really wish Teal'c was here to kill them all."

Daniel sighed in his corner and shifted to awkwardly hug her, but the manacles that held their hands made it difficult. "Don't worry, he will." His voice tired and Vala winced as too much pressure was placed on his back, but another awkward movement later she had her nose pressed against his cheek and felt the spark of hope rise in her again.

A week later, two weeks in this, the hope was too close to getting doused again. Vala sat, arms wrapped around her scrapped knees, watching as Daniel slept. He tended to sleep on his side now, leaving an area for her to curl into, but tonight she didn't take it, she was to busy staring at the cut on his lip. The man still had bouts of gallantry and tried to fight a guard today who got to friendly with Vala's ass, but hook in Vala's experience manacles always made it harder for someone to deliver a proper right. Looking at him she had less to wonder about his past. In the past weeks she had seen he wasn't as innocent to the ways of war and imprisonment and it hurt her. Daniel had always been, in the smallest way, innocent, never naïve, but ingenuous in a way that made her feel like the worldly one. The one with the experiences, these had stripped her of that. Daniel had probably seen more than she had, in different ways of course, but kept that shrouded sheen of _Daniel_around him and hid so well. Better than her in ways. Vala didn't know how faith still remained in him, but she was glad for it, because it had long been beaten out of her and she couldn't find it anymore.

Reaching out she went to trace the cut on his lip, when his eyes opened. It was dark in the cell they had been thrown into but his eyes stood out too brightly to Vala.

"Vala?"

"You really should stop being so stupid, Daniel."

He smiled; lips cracked and warmed, and grasped her wrist pulling her down to him. Personal space, something they had always been marginally aware of, had evaporated completely in these weeks and she let herself be pulled. Body heat, comfort, friendship, need had all blurred in beatings and hunger and anger. "I thought you liked when I acted all macho for you." He teased, a smile flashing quickly before he sighed and let the joke dissipate.

Lying down, Vala faced Daniel, tucking one of her legs between his and wrapping on arm around his ribs, resting the palm on his sharp shoulder blade. He let her use his arm as a pillow, while the other resting lightly across her hips wear he knew she wasn't bruised. Vala kept her other arm bent between them and rested her hand on Daniel's chest.

Daniel took in her gaze and brought her closer to his body, "What are you thinking that's making you look at me that way?"

Vala sighed and closed her eyes, "Do you still believe they're coming for us?"

"Yes."_Yes_… Vala knew he was going to say that and worst was she knew he believed wholly and completely. And she knew she should have. She should believe that light-years away on Earth, their team was fighting to get them back. Somehow. Vala knew she should believe that, but they had been here for weeks and had she been alone she would have already escaped, or tried too several times.

"We need to get out of here Daniel," Opening her eyes she looked at the only reason why she kept hoping and not running, "we can try again next time…"

"They'll hurt you again if we don't make it."

"And so we'll learn and try ag—"

"No, Vala, we need to hold out. They'll come and you wouldn't want to miss Teal'c kicking some ass, would you?" He smiled and both knew it was half meant and mostly to convince her.

Vala almost let herself, "I would, but we won't make it more than a month here, Daniel. They've been going easy on us so far, because I think they still think they can negotiate for us."

"I know,"

"But they won't wait forever…"

"Give it a few more days Vala," Daniel tighten his arm around her and touched their foreheads together, "let's at least get our energy up."

"And we'll try again?"

Daniel closed his eyes and Vala could almost see as his thoughts passed by them, she bite her lip and shifted closer to him, her leg wrapping firmly around his, and gathering the courage she needed to say what she was going to say next she brought her lips just over his and whispered, "I don't want to die here, Daniel." At that blue eyes snapped opened and took in her words, her whispered admission and Daniel cupped the back of her head, brushing his lips over hers softly.

"You won't Vala, I promise you." His words held such certainty that Vala let them wash over her and let herself believe him. Daniel words were the only she would ever let herself believe without hesitation, with full convictions and Vala felt herself nod.

"I won't let you die here either." She moved to grab the hand lay on her hip and brought it to her chest, dropping a kiss on it.

Outside their cell they heard shout and yells and screams, slaves and victims to these people; inside, Daniel held Vala, Vala held Daniel, and they both knew torture but they both knew hope, they both knew faith. Daniel's in his team, and Vala's in Daniel..


End file.
